Rubber heel



Sept. 11, 1934. c, INGWER 1,973,077

RUBBER HEEL Filed June 11. 19 30 AT- ORNEY Patented Sept. 11, 1934 RUBBER HEEL Carl B. Ingwer, Elyria, Ohio, assignor to The I. T. S. Company, Elyria, Ohio, a corporation of Application June 11, 1930, Serial No. 460,325 2 Claims. (CI. 36-35) This invention relates to an improved construction of treads for foot wear and is more particularly directed to treads of rubber composition.

Treads such as heels, soles, heel lifts and the 5 like have been made of rubber compositions and secured to their supports such as footwear uppers by nailing or the like.

It is difficult in attaching a tread to a shoe to obtain tight engagement of the side edges thereof with the shoe. It has been contemplated to fashion the tread with an attaching surface which is in the shape of a portion of the surface of a cylinder, being concave transversely only of the tread and straight longitudinally. With this contour of attaching surface the side edges only of the heel are drawn tightly against the support when the heel is nailed to its support. The result is that foreign material, such as dirt, can enter between the heel and its support, the appearance of the'shoe is injured, and the play between the heel and its support results in wear therebetween.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to construct a tread member for footwear which when secured thereto will form tight engagement with its support around the entire periphery of the tread member.

' A further object is to provide a heel which is reinforced at the point of greatest wear.

Other objects will be apparent from the specification and from the accompanying drawing in which:

. Fig. 1' isa plan view of the attaching face of a heel embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the heel taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the heel showing the curvature thereof and taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the wearing surface of the heel showing the reinforcing heel plate, and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring particularly to the drawing, in its preferred embodiment, the invention is illustrated as applied to the construction of a heel of rubber composition. In its general contour the heel is concave-convex both longitudinally and transversely with a spherical curvature on the attaching surface and tread surface thereof. The heel in the preferred form comprises a body portion having an attaching surface which is concave on every line of cross section therethrough. The interior portion 1 of the attaching surface, terminating at the breast of the heel, is uniformly spherically concave throughout its extent with a concavity which in the preferred embodiment is described upon approximately a 19 inch radius. The heel is provided with a marginal flange or thickened portion 2 projecting outwardly from the attaching surface of the heel at the margin thereof and extending from the breast around the heel. The surface of the marginal thickened portion 2 co-operates with the interior portion 1 of the attaching surface to form an attaching surface of varying curvature concave on every line of cross section. The surface of the thickened portion 2 is described on a shorter radius than the surface of the interior portion 1. In the preferred embodiment, the outer edge of the thickened portion 2 protrudes upwardly from the body of the heel above the spherical curve described by the inner surface 1 by about y; of an inch. The curvature of the tread surface of the heel and the inner portion 1 of the attaching surface are approximately the same.

In utilizing the heel it is applied in position upon the shoe and is attached thereto by nails or the like driven through the recesses 3. This draws the body of the heel tightly against the support thereby bending the entire edge portion 30 of the heel backwardly and maintaining the edges of the heel in close engagement with the support due to the inherent resilience of the material of the heel.

In ordinary use the rear, portion of a heel wears out before the rest of the heel and I therefore have provided a heel plate 4, formed integrally with the body of the heel and of the same mate-- rial. This heel plate 4 gives the heel greater thickness at the rear than at the sides and breast and affords additional wearing surface at the ,point where it is most needed. Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, it is to be noted that the tread surface is also provided with a plurality of integral tread members 10 that are circular in cross section and are apertured as at 3 to permit the entrance of a nail or like device to secure the heel to a shoe. These members may, if desired,

be positioned in approximate alignment with the junction of the thickened portion 2 and the inher body portion 1 of the attaching surface and as shown follow the edge of the shoe, certain of which extend upwardly from the tread surface direct and others of which lie within the limits of the heel plate and are encompassed thereby. The tread members 10 are adapted to first come into contact with the ground and all preferably extend equal distances beyond the tread surface. However, the top surface of the heel plate lies in the plane spaced above the est wear.

tread members 10 to first take the wear.

tread surface but below the top surface of the tread members.

In actual use, it is my thought to allow the If the wearer tends to wear off the heel along either edge or around the back, as the tread surfaces wear down, the wear will be, taken on the integral heel plate. In the first place, the tread members will permit the heel to be firmly planted on the ground, that is, the actual surfaces contacting with the ground ,will not lie in varied planes so that the heel will be tilted on one side or the other. Hence, the heel plate affords reinforcement in the zone of greatest wear, however, the inequalities of wear are first reflected on the tread members 10 and if one wears down a heel evenly the tread members as well as the heel plate tend to wear down at the same rate. However, if the zone of the heel occupied by the heel plate, tends to receive the greatest wear, the balance ofthe heel will be supported by the tread members 10 which will overcome the objectionable tiltfound in heels that provide merely a tread surface and a heel plate, the top surface of which lies. in a plane well above the plane of the tread surface. It will be appreciated-that the heel plate encompasses and supports those tread members 10 that lie within its limits and that this additional support contributes materially to the life of those tread mem bers 10 that would be subjected to the great- As shown in Fig. 4 the heel plate section 4 is substantially U-shaped and extends around the rear of the heel adjacent its edge.

In the form of heel illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing the ends of the heel plate 4 are equidistant from the breast of the heel. However, in some cases it may be that the side portion rather than the rear portion of the heel, or both the side and rear portion, wears out before the rest of the heel due to the particular style of walking of the wearer. To compensate for this uneven wear I provide a heel such as illustrated in Fig. 5 in which a wear plate 5, similar to the plate 4 in Fig. 4 is provided but which extends along one side of the heel as well as along the rear thereof. Ordinarily the side of the heel to the outside of the shoe wears out more quickly than the rest of the heel but obviously the heel may be applied to a shoe so that the side having the thickened portion 5 is located on the inside or outside of the shoe according to where the greatest wear occurs.

While the invention has been applied to the construction of a heel of rubber composition it will be understood that it can be applied to the construction of slabs of rubber composition or other material having similar characteristics. The invention is particularly applicable to other parts of footwear, such as heel lifts, soles and the like. While the article has been described as being made of rubber composition it will be understood that other suitable flexible materials may be used.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described it will be apparentto those skilled in the art that modifications can be made therein within the spirit of the invention and I do not wish to limit the scope of this patent other than by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a rubber heel comprising a body portion of flexible material having a tread surface, said surface having a plurality of spaced tread members with the faces of said tread members lying in a common plane and a reinforcing abutment disposed adjacent to 105 the tread members at the portion of greatest wear, said reinforcing abutment extending beyond said tread surface, said tread members extending beyond said tread surface and beyond said reinforcing abutment. ill

2. As an article of manufacture, a rubber heel comprising a body portion of flexible material having a tread surface, said surface having. a plurality of spaced tread members with the faces of said tread members lying in a common plane, H5 and a reinforcing abutment disposed adjacent to the tread members along the rear and one side of the heel edge, said reinforcing abutment extending beyond said tread surface, said tread members extending beyond said tread surface lfl' and beyond said reinforcing abutment.

I CARL H. INGWER. 

